Do the Patriots' Haters Have a Point?
- Zak Drapeau
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
by Zak Drapeau
Sportz Nation - 1/30/2026
Here in New England, we are delighted but not shocked that the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl. We might have a young team led by a new Head Coach and a Quarterback only in his second year, but WE have what THEY don't... Championship DNA.
We just win in New England.
While everyone else is talking about how we shouldn't be here and every reason we don't deserve this Championship appearance,
cough Cam Newton cough cough
We've set out to talk about "Why Not Us?", just like we said back in 2002 when we weren't supposed to beat the Rams either.
Well.. today's a bit different and in the midst of our 2-week long coverage of the Patriots being Super Bowl bound, I'm going to be a hater for one day and reiterate all of those reasons. Ya know, for s**ts and giggles.
Strength of Schedule
This one's pretty easy.
Whether you want to cite us beating three of the top defenses in the playoffs or not, it is undeniably backed by statistics that the Patriots have had not only the "easiest" schedule this season, but one of the "easiest" schedules of any team to ever make the Super Bowl.
For the regular season, the average win percentage of every team the Patriots faced was .391, which was by far the worst in the league with the 2nd worst being the Broncos schedule which was .421
THENNNNN... when we got to the playoffs, we had a good, solid win against the Chargers nothing wrong there... but then we beat the Texans after one of the worst playoff performances OF ALL TIME by a Quarterback in C.J. Stroud's 4-interception-first half performance.
To put a cherry on top we then travelled to Denver in a massive AFC Championship where we faced off against... Jarrett Stidham.
Like I said all of these playoff matchups had elite defenses in which the Patriots' defense shined the most but come on... we can all admit that the injured Chargers, the turnover-happy Texans and the Stidham-led Broncos is a joke of a playoff run.
Right?
Drake Maye's NOT a Franchise Quarterback
(I want it on record this argument is ABSURD to me but all opposing arguments deserve their time in the sun... I guess?)
Drake Maye is likely going to be the runner-up for MVP consideration after a stellar 2025-season but is he REALLY all that we've cracked him up to be? He had 31 pass TDs to 8 INTs with 4,394 pass yards on 72% completions in the regular season along with 450 rush yards and 4 TDs.
"But that was against a terrible schedule!!!!" - Haters say while they're sitting on the couch
To be fair, it is somewhat true that he faced far weaker defenses then his MVP-counterpart Matthew Stafford but nonetheless, Maye put up great numbers against NFL defenses and you can NOT take that away from him.
So how did he fair in the Playoffs against, (like we've established many times) some of the BEST defenses?
In 3 Playoff Games Drake Maye has a total:
43/77 pass completions, 533 pass yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs, 15 sacks, 141 rush yards, 1 TD and 4 fumbles
Per Game Averages of:
55.8% completions, 177 pass yards, 1.3 TDs, .67 INTs, 5 sacks, 45 rush yards, .33 rush TDs and 1.3 fumbles
Let's analyze that further...
When facing the BEST defenses in the AFC, Drake Maye has 6 turnovers and 5 TDs, he passes for less than 200 yards a game, gets sacked twice as much as the league average and his "historic completion percentage" falls down more than 16-percentage points...
Maybe the Haters have a point here...
The Seahawks Will Blow Them Out
Another point I disagree with but is obviously two soon to tell, the game on February 8, 2026 will be special for so many reasons and if everyone outside of New England has their way, it'd be because the Patriots "FINALLY" play a good team.
I mean that's the narrative right? Everyone thinks their cupcake walk to the playoffs will finally be halted when they play a great team in the Seahawks on the grandest stage but guess what... they've literally said that exact same line for 3 weeks in a row now.
AND YOU KNOW WHAT THE CRAZIEST PART IS???
Even if the Patriots win Banner number 7 and ride off to Disney Land, the "Easy Win" narrative will still be there. JUST WATCH, when the Patriots' win the Super Bowl next Sunday it will be because "The Seahawks have Sam Darnold and he's not a Franchise QB." Or, "The Seahawks defense didn't come to play." Or, "The Patriots are good on the road and anything can happen in the Super Bowl."
Pretty much ANYTHING besides giving this team, and Vrabel and Drake Maye and their AMAZING defense their damn flowers.
That's okay though, while the rest of the world is fumbling over themselves to make excuses and find new ways to discredit this team... We'll be Champions. Again.
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Make sure to stay tuned as we continue coverage of the New England Patriots and Super Bowl LX
-Z.D. (@DrapeauZak on X)